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Dec. 18, 1928. 1,695,956 c. A. FRlc K BOTTLE DISPENSING REFRIGERATORFiled Aug. 18, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN! 'EN TOR.

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c. A. FRICK BOTTLE DI SPENS ING REFRIGERATOR 4 Sheet s-Sheet 2 FiledAug. 18, 1924 A TTORNEYJ Dec. 18, 1928. 1,695,956

' c. A. FRICK BOTTLE DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR Filed Aug- 18, 1924 4Sheets-Sheet 3 I N V EN TOR.

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A TTORNEYJ Patented I Dec. 18 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER A. ERICK, 0F MUNCIE, INDIANA, ASSIGN OR TO GLASCOCK BROTHERSMFG. COMPANY, OF MUNCIE, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

BOTTLE-DISPEN SING REFRIGERATOR.

Application filed August 18, 1924. Serial No. 732,641.

My invention relates to improvements in bottle dispensing refrigeratorsand has for one of its objects the provision of a bottle storingrefrigerator which will maintaln the contents of the bottles cooled andfrom which the bottles maybe easily and rapidly removed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a bottle dispensingrefrigerator into which the bottles for cooling purposes may be easilyinserted and from which all the bottles may be removed without thenecessity' of the operator fishing around in the cooling medium forobtaining access to the bottles.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear hereinafter inthe accompanying specification. and appended claims.

For the purpose of disclosing my inven-- tion I have illustrated oneembodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a refrigerator embodying my invention;Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof, parts of the same being broken awayto disclose more fully the interior construction;

Fig. 3 is a plan View thereof partly in' section;

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the bottle chute; I

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a part of the bottle pump; 1

Fig. 7 is a detail view of a modification of the structures shown inFigs. 1 to 6;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section of the p ump7 and pump casing of thestructure of Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 1010 of Fig.7, and

Fig. 11 is a detail perspective of In the embodiment illustrated Iprovide a refrigerating container having a water-tight sheet metallining comprising the sides 1, ends 2 and bottom 3. This lining issurrounded by suitable insulating material 4, such as cork or the likewhich is covered on the exterior by preferably sheet metal panels 5. Thetop of the container is closed by a suitable top 6 which is formed in' amanner the triging upon the post 16.

somewhat similar. to the container proper, suitable icing doors 7 beingprovided to permitof the insertion of ice to the interior of the casing.

Arranged within the casing are a plurality of bottle dispensing devices,each one comprising in itself a separate unit and arranged side by sidethroughout the length of the container. The dispensing units are eachadapted, if desired, to contain and dispense 'difierent flavors ofbottled goods so that the operator may readily remove the desiredflavored desired.

As each dispensing mechanism is exactly alike, a description of one willsuflice.

Each of the dispensing containers comprises an arcuate chute having acurved bottom 9 and sides 10. This chute extends from the top rear ofthe container to the bottom front thereof and is adapted to form abottle chute adapted to contain a plurality 'of bottles 11. The chute-atits bottom forpop or other material as.

ward end communicates with a well extendin yertically of the frontportion of the re rigerating container and this well is preferablyformed of the front member 12 and the two side members 13, to which sidemembers, at their bottoms, the sides 10 of the chute are suitablysecuredbyhracing inserts 14. The bottom portion 15 of the well is provided witha stub post 16 on which a bottle when delivered from the chute isadaptedto rest. This post is slightly small er than the diameter of the bottle,for a purpose more fully hereinafter disclosed.

Vertically reciprocating in the well is a bottle pump 17, the front wall18 of which, at its top, is provided with an opening 18 to permit theremoval of the bottles therefrom when the pump is raised. This frontwall 18 is sufficiently long so that when the top cover 19 carrying thehandle 20 is flush with the top 6 of the casing, its bottom end will bebelow the bottom of the bottle rest- The side walls 21 of the pump areslightly shorter than the front wall and carry spring fingers 22 adaptedto snap under the bottle resting upon the post 16 when the pump is movedto its lowermost position. The rear wall 23 of the pump is still shorterthan the side walls and when the pump is in its lowermost position,extends only about half way down the bottle resting upon the post 16,

but sufficiently far down to form a stop for the lowermost bottle in thechute.

For feeding the bottles into the pump well, I provide a triggermechanism at the forward. end of the bottle chute which comprises apivoted stop 24 forming a part of the bottom 9 of the chute and havingits pivot oifsetfrom the center so that the forward end 25 will tend todrop by ravity, thereby raising the rear end 26 into the path of thebottles in the chute. The stop end 26 of the trigger is lowered out ofthe path of the bottles to permit the same to feed downwardly in thechute by the raising of the opposite end 25 by means of a bell cranklever 27 pivoted at 28 and having its forward portion 29 lying in thepath of the bottom of the rear Wall 23 of the pump whereby, when thepump is lowered to its lowermost position, the bottom edge of the wall23 will engage the portion 29 thereby kicking the lever 27 up to causethe trigger- 24 to rock and release the bottles in the chute to permitthem to slide forward against the rear wall 23 of the well.

In addition to the opening 18 at the top of the well, I provide a secondopening 30 which will. permit, when the pump is raised to its greatestheight, the removal of the bottom bottle from the pump.

For supplying bottles to the chute, I provide on the top of thecontainer, a supplementary container 31 having a series of compartments32 which communicate with the respective chutes in the casing. This topor container is closed at its upper end by a suitable cover 33 held inposition by a latch 34.

The icing container preferably has an arcuate-bottom-35 shaped toconform with the bottle chutes andthis containerextends the full lenghof the refrigerator, having its front wall 36 resting against a crossmember 37 secured against the rear of the side member. 13. This crossmember prevents the lee in the container from so denting the front wall36 of the container to cause it to interfere with the action of thepump, and also serves to tie the various dispensing mechanisms togetherto give rigidity to the same. a I

While the ice container extends substantially the full length of therefrigerator container, there is a sufficient space left between theends of the ice container and the end walls of the refrigeratorcontainer to permit a certain amount of circulation of the coolingwater. The ice container is also pro- V1 ed with openings to permit ofthe escape of the water from the melting ice into the compartment.

In 0 eration each chute is filled with bottles. he ice container isfilled with ice which maintains the interior of the refrig- Leas esamount of salt may be added to the ice to cause a brine solution whichextends to about the point indicated in the refrigerator container. Thebottles, therefore, in the various chutes are all submerged in thecooling medium. In order to pump the bottles upwardly by means of thepump, the pump member is raised vertically, this allows the lowermostbottle in the chute to drop into the pump well resting upon the stubpost. At the same time the trigger mechanism raises to prevent theremaining bottles in the chute from sliding down. The pump is thenlowered and the spring fingers engaging under the bottom of the bottlein the well will cause said bottle to raise with the pump the next timeit is raised. At the same already in the pump, will move the first bot-I tle upwardly. This process is repeated until the pump isfilled. Whentheoperator desires a bottle, he merely raises the pump, removes the topbottle through the openmg 18 and the act of lowering the pump into thewell will feed a bottle up the pump to the position occupied by theremoved bottle.

It is obvious that, by manipulating the pump, all of the bottlescontained in the chute may eventually be removedand after the lastbottle from the chute enters the well the pump may be bodily raised topermit the removal of all the bottles from the pump, the last-bottlebeing removed through the bottom opening in the front wall. I In Figs. 7to 11 I have illustrated a modified construction of my apparatus. As

shown in these figures the pump 17 is cut ofi".

considerably shorter as at 38 and the spring engaging fingers 22 extendbelow the bottom line of the pump.

The front wall of the pump well is provided with a spring finger 39against which the bottles strike when they are delivered from the chuteinto the bottom of the well and this spring finger .is slightly inclinedforwardly so that there will be a tendency to cause the bottles toassume a vertical position. The trigger in the structure'dllustrated inFigs. 7 to 11 preferably consist of a U-shaped member 40 the two legs ofwhich at their rear ends 41 are inclined at an anoted as at 42 in suchmanner that the weight of the trigger at its forward end is greater thanat its rear end. The trigger is mountedon the top side of the chute andthe rear ends 41 of the legs straddle the apron 44 of the pump. When thepump is in its low zgle of about 45 degrees. This trigger is piv Iermost position the legs are engaged by the cut away edges 43 of theside walls of the pump so that when the pump is in its lowermostposition with the apron .44 projecting down beyond the bottom of thechute these edges 43 engaging the rear ends 41 of the legs of thetrigger will raise the front end of the trigger permitting the bottlesto slide downwardly in the chute until they are stopped by the apron.44. As the pump is raised the edges 43 becoming disengaged from thetrigger permit the front end of the trigger to drop down into the pathof the second bottle from the bottom of the chute and hold the bottlesagainst sliding down-in the chute when the apron 44 is i-emoved from-thepath of the first bottle which drops out of the chute and into the 1bottom of the Well in a position to be engaged by the fingers 22.

In order to provide a'chute bottom to conform more or less to the shapeof the bottles thechute is provided at its bottom corners with fillermembers-45 and the corners of the pumpare likewise provided with fillermembers 46 which not only brace the pump but also cause the same toassume a more or less rounded'contour on its inside.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a bottle dispens ng refrigerator, the

combination with a refrigerating container,

of a bottle lifting means reciprocally mounted to discharge the top-mostof a stack of bottles vertically disposed in said P container one on topof the other, said means having means for engaging the bottom bottle insaid stack to lift the stack vertically, and means for delivering abottle in a vertical position beneath the lifted stack. v

2. In a bottle dispensing refrigerator, the combination with arefrigerating container,

of bottle lifting means reciprocally mounted in said container todischarge the topmost bottle of a stack of bottles vertically disposedin said container one on top of the other and having means for enga ingthe bottombottle of said stack and li ting the stack axially, and achute arranged at its lower end to deliver a bottle in a verticalposition beneath the lifted stack for engagement by said engaging means.

3.- In a bottle dispensing refrigerator, the combination with arefrigeratlng container,

' of bottle lifting means reciprocally mounted in said container to'discharge the top most of a series of bottles vertically disposed insaid container one on top of the other and having means for engaging thebottom bottle of the stack for li ting the stack, a chute arranged todeliver a bottle in a vertical position beneath. said stack when it israised by said lifting means, and

means for preventing the movement of bottles in said chute duringthe'lowering movement of said lifting means. a

4. In a bottle dispensing refrigerator, the combination with arefrigerating container, of a bottle lift-ing meansreciprocally mountedin said container to discharge the top-most of a stack of bottlesvertically disposed in said container oneon top of the other and havingmeans for engaging the;

' combination with a refrigerating container,

of a bottle lifting means reci rocally mounted to discharge the top-mosto a stack of bottles vertically disposed in said container one on top ofthe other and having means for engaging the bottom bottle of the stackfor lifting the stack, a chute arranged to deliver a bottle in avertical position beneath the stack when it is raised by said liftingmeans, and means operated by the lifter for preventing movement of thebottles in said chute when the stack is in its lifted position andpermitting movement of the bottles in said chute when the stack is inits lowered osition.

.6. In a bottle dispensing refrigerator the combination with arefrigerating container,

of bottle lifting means reciprocally mounted in said container todischarge the top-most of a series of bottles vertically disposed insaid container one on top of. the other and having means for engagingthe bottom bottle of the stack for lifting the stack, a chute forsupporting a series of bottles in stacked relation and terminating atthe bottom of the axially stacked bottlesand arranged to deliver thebottles by gravity in a vertical position beneath the lifted stack ofbottles.

7 In a bottle dispensing refrigerator, the

combination with a refrigerating container,

of bottle lifting means reciprocally mounted in said container todischarge the top-most of a series of bottles vertically disposed insaid container one on top of the other and I having means for engagingthe bottom bottle of the stack for lifting the-stack, a i

chute arranged to receive a series of bottles in stacked relation andterminating at the bottom of the axially stacked bottles and arranged todeliver the bottles under the influence of gravity one at a time beneathsaid lifting means.

8. In a cooler, an insulated receptacle, 'a

plurality of guides therein, a refrigerant supporting member, saidguides having end portions extending above said refrigerant supportingmember and end portions terminating below said refrigerant supportingmember, and bottle-elevating means atsaid last-mentioned ends of saidguides, said means comprisinga vertically reciproeable member having anopening in the side wall thereof. I

v9. In acooler, an insulated receptacle, a plurality of guides therein,a refrigerant supporting member, said guides having end portionsextending above said refrigerant supporting member and end portionstermie nating below said refrigerant supporting member, andbottle-elevating means at said last mentioned ends of said guides,comprising a tubular guide member associated with each of said guidesand a tubular member reeiprooable therein, said last-mentioned memberhaving an opening in the Wall thereof. p

In Witness whereof, I, CHESTER A. FRICK, have hereunto set my hand atMuncie, Indiana, this 6th day of August, A. D. one thousand nine hundredand twenty-four.

CHESTER A. FRICK.

